Tuesday, January 22, 2008

They’re really rockin’ on CNBC. While the financial markets are crashing down around the world, I can’t think of any media I’d rather be with than Joe Kernan, Erin Burnett, Rick Santelli, Jim Cramer, Becky Quick, Mark Faber, and the entire CNBC crew which is too large to mention. These otherwise perceived dull peeps are having their moments today with volatility like 1929. The Fed announced a surprise rate cut of ¾ of a percent early this morning and the market greets it as bad news and too late to penetrate the problems of economic markets. A lot of it is the marketing of mortgage debt and CDOs (collateralized debt obligations) sold overseas but a lot of it is because most people are panicked that the Fed moves have been behind the curve, too little, and too late. Ironic that ¾ percent is considered too little and the forecasters are saying that other cuts are on the way. The markets just opened so it will be one of the wildest rides in history on Wall Street, following the tsunami that hit foreign shores yesterday with European and Asian stock markets “crashing,” according the word used in French newspapers.

I don’t know how the financial people from CNBC keep their heads from exploding but these people are the epitome of cool as they get feeds from forecasters around the country and around the world. The carnage is likely to go on even my small change investment is hurting, but CNBC has been giving me a free education. Or maybe I’m paying for it as stocks and the dollar drops, inflation rises, and the credit markets bounce around in a hall of mirrors.

The arbitragers are busy if they’re not apoplectic. There are likely to be fistfights on the trading floor, and perhaps on CNBC.